Clint Dempsey has a black eye after a training-ground collision with Michael Dawson but after a quiet start to his Tottenham career, the American believes he is now ready to land some decisive blows of his own.

When Spurs signed Dempsey and Mousa Dembele from Fulham during the summer, it looked like intelligent business. The pair shone for their team last season and their talents ought to have enhanced Andre Villas-Boas’s team as they did Martin Jol’s.

During the first three months of the campaign, however, life has not gone as planned for either man. Dembele is only just recovering fitness after missing eight matches with a hip injury, while Dempsey has displayed little of the form that brought him 23 goals last season.

Dempsey is frustrated with his opaque performances but after playing an important part in yesterday’s win over West Ham, the 29-year-old is regaining optimism. He has had 17 matches to find his rhythm in a new team and knows the time has come to exert more influence.

“I’ve been looking at videos with the manager and just trying to figure out a way to make an impact and help the team,” said Dempsey, who suffered the bruise below his eye when jumping with Dawson in an exercise designed to subdue West Ham’s direct tactics.

“Every team is different and there’s a period of adjustment. I didn’t have a pre-season at all, so I’m trying to play catch-up a little bit.

“I’ve been frustrated at not really getting on the ball or affecting games. I’m better when I can go on the half-turn and face my opponents, rather than playing with my back to goal. Against West Ham, I did a better job in that respect and I thought I did well.

“I’m traditionally used to playing in a 4-4-2 where I’m the guy on the left, but I’m not an out-and-out winger. I’m more like an attacking inside-left, so playing just off a central forward in the Spurs system is good but I need to get on the ball and make the right movements.

“We have two very direct wingers (Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon), and it’s about knowing when to get close to them, or give them space to take on their man and try to get on the end of the cross. I hit the bar against West Ham and, hopefully, I can chip in with more goals.”

With Spurs leading through Jermain Defoe’s impressive 44th-minute strike, Dempsey’s clever chipped pass enabled Bale to double the advantage 13 minutes into the second half.

The Texan then released Lennon, who set up Defoe for the third soon afterwards. Andy Carroll’s first goal for West Ham, eight minutes from full-time, could not deny Spurs after one of their most convincing displays of the season.

At the beginning of the first half and for most of the second, the home side attacked with more menace than they have shown at home in the League this season. More significant, though, was the defensive performance.

It was a smart move by Villas-Boas to restore Dawson in place of William Gallas. The club captain dealt ­efficiently with Carroll but also brought cohesion and solidity to a back four that had lacked precisely those qualities in recent matches.

Steven Caulker’s mistake that allowed Carroll to score led to a jittery final 10 minutes but for the previous 80, Villas-Boas’s rearguard were sure‑footed. Coping with ­Liverpool’s short‑passing game on Wednesday presents a different challenge and it is one for which Dawson, who started a Premier League game for the first time this season, should surely be retained.

“I want to play every week and it’s hard when you’re not,” Dawson said. “But you have to keep your head down, keep working hard and when your chance comes, you have to perform.

“Of course, it has been frustrating. Every player wants to play, not just me. The important thing is that from the first minute against West Ham, we pressed them everywhere and put them on the back foot, and that makes a defender’s job much easier. Everyone was top-class in this game. We needed to get back to winning ways because we’d been on a poor run. It was a hard week, losing 5-2 to Arsenal and it hurt everyone but we start this week in a much better frame of mind.”

Strong home form is the bedrock of any successful season and Spurs must use this derby success as a durable foundation.